Memo from It Could Be Worse Department, Culinary Division

This week, hordes of otherwise hungry Chicagoans lost their appetites after reading about an unfortunate ingredient included in some food sold at the Taste of Chicago Festival.

Unfortunately for them, the festival was over and the people who won the salmonella lottery were stuck with it.

But on the bright side, they don’t live in China, where at least one Beijing neighborhood’s worth of restaurants is serving pork buns made with cardboard found on the street. Mmmm—tastes good and good for you! Except without tasting good or being healthy.

Here’s an inside look at the gourmet delights:

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork. The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

"What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

This reinforces my suspicion that veggie burgers and hockey pucks are made in the same seedy Canadian factory. But I’ve never been able to prove it.